Warriors Sign Brandon Rush
JULY 22ND: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.
JULY 16TH: The Warriors and Brandon Rush have reached agreement on a two-year deal with a player option for the final season, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter links). It’ll be worth a total of $2.5MM, a source tells Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link), a number that Woj confirms in his full story. It would nonetheless seem logical that the precise value is $2,416,649, which would be his minimum salary for this coming season and 2015/16, since capped-out Golden State is without its biannual exception this year and already committed nearly all of its mid-level to Shaun Livingston.
Rush is coming off a two-year deal worth $8MM that he signed with the Warriors in 2012, after shooting 45.2% from three-point range off the bench in 2011/12 for Golden State. He only appeared in two games the following season, suffering a torn ACL, and the Warriors shipped him to the Jazz for this past season, a year in which he saw a career-low 11.0 minutes per game.
The Mark Bartelstein client seemed on his way out of Utah late last season, and the Jazz recently renounced his rights. Warriors GM Bob Myers spoke highly of Rush in advance of a workout he staged for multiple NBA teams, and it appears the Golden State brass saw enough to convince them to bring the 29-year-old back to the Bay.
Emmanuel Mudiay To Play In China
9:32am: Mudiay’s one-year deal is worth $1.2MM, a source tells Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). He’s nonetheless carrying a significant amount of insurance to hedge against future NBA earnings, which stand to be much greater, Wojnarowski also tweets.
8:50am: Highly touted 2015 NBA draft prospect Emmanuel Mudiay will spend the 2014/15 season in China after signing with Guangdong of the Chinese Basketball Association, the team announced (translation via Evan Wang of Hupu.com on Twitter). Mudiay recently decided to forgo what would have been his freshman season at Southern Methodist University to pursue professional opportunities abroad.
The 6’5″ point guard is the No. 2 prospect for next year’s draft in Chad Ford’s ESPN.com rankings, and he’s No. 3 in the 2015 mock draft that Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress put together. He’ll follow a path that Brandon Jennings and others have traveled as premiere high school prospects who played international pro ball rather than attend college. Mudiay can’t play in the NBA this season because the league requires that players from the U.S. be at least one year removed from high school.
The move shows the growing influence of the Chinese league, which is rivaling Europe, long the primary hub of basketball outside North America, as a draw for the top international talent. Several NBA veterans have dotted Chinese rosters in recent years, so it seems as though Mudiay will get a taste of the competition to come once he heads to the NBA.
Lakers Sign Ryan Kelly
MONDAY, 4:12pm: Kelly’s deal is now official, according to a tweet from the Lakers’ official account.
FRIDAY, 10:40pm: Mark Medina of Los Angeles Daily News tweets that the deal is for two years with no options.
9:37pm: The Lakers have reached an agreement with Ryan Kelly, tweets Mike Bresnahan of The Los Angeles Times. Terms of the deal are unknown, and Bresnahan guesses it’s a one or two year arrangement in a separate tweet. Kelly was a restricted agent, and the team was reportedly working on a deal aside from the $1MM qualifying offer extended to him at the beginning of free agency.
Kelly will join Wesley Johnson and Xavier Henry in returning to Los Angeles as probable reserves that saw heavy minutes for an injury-depleted Lakers squad last season. Kelly was selected by the Lakers with the 48th pick in the 2013 draft, and excelled in the D-League before getting the opportunity to play NBA minutes as a rotation piece, even starting 25 games.
The Octagon Sports client hoped to return to the Lakers, and believed the interest to be mutual. The 23-year-old averaged 8.0 PPG and 3.7 RPG with a slash line of .423/.338/.815 as a rookie stretch-four.
Lakers Re-Sign Nick Young
JULY 21ST: Young and the Lakers have made the deal official, the team announced via Twitter.
JULY 12TH, 1:04pm: The Lakers will refrain from signing Young until after the sign-and-trade for Pau Gasol is completed, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com.
JULY 11TH, 4:40pm: Free agent Nick Young has agreed to re-sign with the Lakers, reports Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com (Twitter link). It’ll be a four-year, $21.5MM deal with a player option in the fourth season, according to Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter links).
The deal seems like a strong indication that the Lakers have abandoned hope of signing Carmelo Anthony, since they’ll have to use cap space on Young. They had Young’s Non-Bird rights, which only provided for a 20% raise on last year’s salary of slightly more than $1.1MM.
In spite of the hefty raise, agent Mark Bartelstein says Young passed on more lucrative offers to re-sign, as he tells Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Jazz Sign Trevor Booker
JULY 21ST: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.
JULY 16TH, 11:18am: The second year of Booker’s contract won’t be fully guaranteed, tweets Jody Genessy of the Deseret News.
TUESDAY, 12:28pm: The Jazz will sign power forward Trevor Booker, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Booker had been eligible for restricted free agency, but the Wizards elected not to tender a qualifying offer, making him unrestricted, so there’s no chance for Washington to match Utah’s deal and snatch him back. Booker’s contract will be worth $10MM over two years, Wojnarowski adds in a second tweet.
The Heat, Wolves, Nets, Knicks and Magic joined the Jazz and Wizards in pursuit of Booker this month. He’s coming off a season in which he started a career-high 45 games as Nene battled injuries, and that volume of starts triggered a higher value for his qualifying offer, as I explained, perhaps dissuading the Wizards from making him a restricted free agent.
The move will likely exhaust Utah’s cap space once it becomes final, leaving the team’s $2.732MM room exception as its only tool other than the minimum salary to sign free agents. Booker’s presence figures to apply pressure on fellow big manEnes Kanter as he enters the final season of his rookie deal, observes Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune (on Twitter).
Hornets Sign Marvin Williams
JULY 21ST: Williams and the Hornets have made the deal official, the team announced via press release.
“He will be a key piece of our frontcourt rotation with his versatility and ability to play both forward positions,” Hornets GM Rich Cho said.
JULY 12TH: Marvin Williams has agreed to a two-year, $14MM deal with the Hornets, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. The team had shown steady interest in the forward throughout free agency, but negotiations were paused while the team awaited Utah’s decision to match their offer for restricted free agent Gordon Hayward. The contract doesn’t represent a raise from Williams’ five-year, $37.5MM deal that just expired in Utah, but he did fair better than the $3MM-$6MM range we gauged from similar players in our Free Agent Stock Watch profile of Williams.
Williams had drawn interest from several teams, and the Jazz were reportedly looking to bring him back to Utah. The Jazz valued the 28-year-old enough to reject a trade that offered a first round pick in exchange for the veteran this past season. The veteran will land with his third NBA team in his tenth season, replacing Charlotte’s starting power forward Josh McRoberts, who left for Miami as a free agent.
The Tandem Sports & Entertainment client performed at or below his career averages in scoring, rebounding, assists, and steals last season, but made a career-high 1.3 three-pointers per game at a 35.9% rate. The No. 2 pick from the 2005 draft hasn’t lived up to expectations since turning pro, but has established himself as a solid contributor across multiple categories. He will look to experience more team success with a Charlotte club that made the playoffs last season, something the Jazz haven’t accomplished since acquiring Williams from the Hawks in 2012.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Bulls Re-Sign Kirk Hinrich
JULY 21ST: Hinrich and the Bulls have made the deal official, the team announced.
“Kirk has always been a big part of creating the professional culture we want day in, day out surrounding our club,” Bulls GM Gar Forman said in the team’s statement. “He helps our team in so many ways, and Kirk had other opportunities elsewhere, but we are very happy he chose to remain in a Bulls uniform.”
JULY 13TH: 8:14pm: David Aldridge of NBA.com (on Twitter) has the specifics. It’s a two-year, $5.6MM deal using the room exception and it includes a player option on year two.
4:06pm: The Bulls are set to re-sign Kirk Hinrich, according to David Aldridge of NBA.com (on Twitter). The deal is more than the veteran’s minimum but less than he was offered elsewhere, according Aggrey Sam of CSNChicago.com (on Twitter). The Hornets and Jazz were among Hinrich’s other suitors.
Earlier today, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter) reported that even though the Hornets have been pursuing Hinrich, the belief was that he’d still wind up back in Chicago.
In 73 games (61 starts) last season for the Bulls, Hinrich averaged 9.1 PPG and 3.9 APG in 29 minutes per contest. Hinrich has put up a 10.8 PER over the last two seasons, a far cry from the 17.0 PER he put up in his best season for the Bulls (2006-07).
Spurs Re-Sign Matt Bonner
JULY 21ST: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.
JULY 13TH: 4:40pm: It’s a one-year deal for the veteran’s minimum, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM.
4:17pm: Matt Bonner sent a text to Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News (on Twitter) saying, “I’m coming back.” Presumably, this means that Bonner has re-signed with the defending world champions.
There has been mutual interest in a reunion between the Spurs and Bonner and little talk of another team making a run at the forward. The Red Rocket has spent the last eight seasons with the Spurs, averaging 5.9 PPG and 3.2 RPG in silver and black. Last season, Bonner averaged 3.2 PPG and 2.1 RPG in 11.3 minutes per contest, the least amount of playing time he’s seen in his NBA career.
Bulls Sign Cameron Bairstow
The Bulls have signed Cameron Bairstow, whom they selected with the 49th overall pick in last month’s draft, the team announced via press release. The terms of his contract are unclear, but a report last week indicated that the team had made a three-year offer to the former New Mexico big man.
“We like Cameron’s combination as a player with his size, energy and physicality,” Bulls GM Gar Forman said in the team’s statement. “He is a hard worker who will only get better with time.”
The 6’10” Bairstow saw a vastly enhanced role with New Mexico in his senior year this past season, averaging 20.4 points and 7.4 rebounds in 32.9 minutes per game. It was the first time he’d posted a double-digit scoring average in his four years with the Lobos, who fed him nearly twice as many shot attempts during his senior season as they did when he was a junior.
It’ll almost certainly be a minimum-salary contract, since the Bulls have very nearly exhausted their cap room.
Suns Sign Anthony Tolliver
JULY 21ST: The deal is official, the team announced on its website.
“Anthony is a great fit for our style of play,” GM Ryan McDonough said. “His shooting, professionalism and leadership will help us as we try to continue to build a strong foundation going forward.”
JULY 16TH: 10:03am: Each season is worth $3MM, but only $400K of Tolliver’s salary is guaranteed in the second season, according to Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. In any case, a full $3MM salary for 2014/15 means the club will have to use cap space on him, rather than the room exception.
8:34am: The Suns and forward Anthony Tolliver have agreed on a two-year, $6MM deal, agent Larry Fox confirmed to Shams Charania of RealGM. Phoenix beats the Clippers, Cavs, Pistons, Spurs, Wizards and the incumbent Hornets, all of whom apparently had serious discussions with the 29-year-old who was coming off career-high 41.3% accuracy from three-point range last season.
Tolliver averaged 6.1 points in 20.3 minutes per game for Charlotte in 2013/14, though he wasn’t much of a factor in the team’s four-game ouster in the first-round of the playoffs, totaling just 21 minutes for the entire series. The Hornets renounced his Bird rights last week, but they still had the means to re-sign him using cap space, at least until they came to their deal with Lance Stephenson.
Phoenix is likely using cap space on Tolliver, though it’s possible that the Suns could squeeze him into the $2.732MM room exception, depending on the timing of the official signing, if the precise figures in his contract add up to slighly less than $6MM. In any case, Tolliver, who went undrafted in 2007, is in line for the highest salary of his career, per Basketball-Reference.